Life-cycle assessment in mining and mineral processing: A bibliometric overview

Abstract

Mining and mineral processing have major environmental impacts that must be assessed and mitigated. A fundamental tool in this context is life-cycle assessment (LCA), a methodology designed to quantify the environmental impacts associated with products, services, or processes. This article presents a bibliometric analysis of LCA research in the mining industry to provide an overview of the development of this field. The methodology consisted of three steps: (1) searching for publications on the Web of Science, (2) screening documents, and (3) conducting data analyses using the Bibliometrix software package. Consequently, 63 papers published between 2000 and 2024 were identified, including original articles, review articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and Australia are the institution and country with the most publications, and Minerals Engineering is the most prominent journal in this field. It was also found that LCA has been applied to diverse mining–metallurgical processes, extraction of various metals and minerals, consumption of natural resources, evaluation of machinery and fuels, and waste management. The application of LCA in mining is still limited owing to the lack of uniformity in methodology and the paucity of data for the mining–metallurgical sector; therefore, these obstacles must be addressed in future research.

Keywords

Environmental impacts / Mining / Mineral processing / Extractive metallurgy / Life-cycle assessment / Sustainability

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